Hollywood Writers Will Go on Strike, Halting Production
The writers want to also fix the formula for residual payments, which have been upended by streaming. Years ago, writers could receive residual payments whenever a show was licensed — into syndication or through DVD sales. But global streaming services like Netflix and Amazon have cut off those distribution arms, and pay a fixed residual instead.
The unions have taken particular aim at so-called minirooms, which have proliferated over the last decade. There is no one definition of a miniroom. But in one example, studios convene a small group of writers before a show has been given an official green light to compose a script. But writers are often paid less to work in minirooms, W.G.A. officials have said.
Writers have also said that the sudden growth of minirooms has also disrupted the decades-long art of learning how to make a television show. Mike Schur, the creator of “The Good Place” and co-creator of “Parks and Recreation,” said in an interview that when he was a young writer on “The Office,” he learned how to write a script, rewrite, edit, work with actors and became familiar with specialized crafts like set design and sound mixing.
“This is not stuff you can read in a book,” he said. “This is stuff that you have to experience.”
But because of minirooms, writers are sent home after as little as 10 weeks, and frequently are not around for the production process at all, he said.
“These companies don’t understand what is coming down the pike,” he said. “And what’s coming down the pike is an entire generation of show creators who might be super talented, who might have a lot to say about the world, but who functionally do not know how to do the job that they are going to be asked to do.”
Source: The New York Times
